The men's swim team traveled to Army this weekend for what promised to be a tough meet. And it was as the Big Green ended up falling 176-122, dropping their record to 3-4 overall and 2-2 in the Ivy League.
"We had a lot of personal bests and many good swims," Jon Kenyon '97 said. "Things are coming together and we are all looking forward to our final three dual meets at home and then ultimately to Easterns."
From the start, the Big Green faced a difficult challenge, with the Army squad being twice as large as the Big Green's. The meet opened with Army edging Dartmouth out in the 200 yard medley relay. That was to be the theme of the entire day -- close races with Army touching out the Big Green.
After the 1000 yard freestyle, the team was down 27-9. Even Kenyon was unable to win the 200 yard freestyle, taking second in 1:45.95. The misfortune continued as Grier Laughlin '96 slipped on the start of the 100 yard backstroke and only finished second in 54.90, followed closely by teammate Tommy Slaubaugh '96 in 55.05, a season best.
But then as proven against Columbia when the Big Green came back from a 40 point deficit, the Dartmouth men refused to die. Ben Lannon '96 opened the late surge by winning the 100 yard breaststroke in 1:00.36.
As expected, the divers destroyed Army. For the sixth straight meet, Toby Hays '99 swept the one meter board and the three meter board. He took first on the one meter by 30 points, scoring 258.975 points. Mark Devlin '98 took third with 218.925, only five points out of second place.
After the diving break, the Big Green was down 96-54.
But the Big Green then fell to a 60 point deficit before Laughlin again led a rally as he dominated the 200 yard backstroke, winning in 1:55.85, a season best. Michael Hooper '99 followed, turning in two victories -- one in the 500 yard freestyle in 4:46.85 and one in the 400 individual medley in 4:13.04. Not only was Hooper's individual medley time his best of the season, it established the new Army-Dartmouth record.
"It was a tough meet for us," Laughlin said. "Army has tremendous depth and a squad twice as large as ours. Still, we performed extremely well, there were many outstanding swims, everyone swam at least one season best."
The Big Green's next meet is against Yale, a team that beat Army handily. Yet, with the way the men have swam so far this season, the team still has faith it can rise to the occasion.
